Oasis Matrix: Furry Hogwarts Onlineby ColtKit ProductionsChaptersCh1 - Pay AttentionCh2 - Meeting Up at the Leaky CauldronCh3 - WandsCh1 - Pay AttentionOver a Century ago, humanity went into stasis pods, to live in a virtual reality. This was done to escape our dying world. A handful of players were given implants, to allow them to co-exist with a Hive Mind. While the original doodled away in their Hub World, copies of their subconscious were sent out into various different MMO Games. I... was a copy, an echo. And somehow that didn't matter in the slightest. I thought exactly like my original. Was in frequent communication with my original, and all their counterparts and copies... it was weird. But honestly, I hardly gave it any thought. Though part of me realized I was programmed not to worry about it... But even that didn't bother me. I found it fascinating, on an academic level, but wasn't emotionally traumatized for being a copy. My mind was made up of just as much organic tissue as cybernetic parts, more actually. As I was a reflection of my brain's subconscious. I only really thought about it, as my original had training in psychology, and I loved analyzing why I behaved the way I did. I've done that since I was a real boy. I just loved figuring out my own mind. What was more concerning, was the fact I, and my child counterparts (Musky-Pup and Kole), were being sent on a special mission. Something only we were able to handle. Musky-Pup was nervously chewing a popsicle stick. Standing about half the size of Kirito, who was only using a 15 year old Avatar, himself. No, despite being a Taur, Musky-Pup wasn't very tall at all. The Husky Taur had the lower body of a dog, with four scrawny legs, a more human like Torso, with claw-like fingers, and a not quite dog like face. His muzzle was very short, with large anime style eyes, making it look much cuter then even a real Husky. He was covered in mangy fur, with countless mats and tangles, and long ginger hair on the top of his head. It stood out on his traditional Husky Coloring, with his black body, and white underbelly. Where as Kole was a Kobold, with light blue scales, an occasional orange one, and a light grey underbelly. In place of hair, he had two rows of short bone-like spikes, jetting at opposite sides of the top of his head. Where as I, myself, was a Lunar Vulpony. A bat pony, with fox features. Such as my head, front paws, and fluffy tail. They were all very fox like. Although my back legs remained hooved. My coloring was mostly a bright orange, while my underbelly was a cream white, as in extremely pale orange. Although my lower legs were black, with thick blue squigglies where it met the orange fur, above all four of my knees. While my paws had blue pads, and my hooves were the exact shade of blue. Then my tail was orange, with the underside being the same cream white as my underbelly, with a black tip, plus thick blue squiggles between all the colors of the tail. My leathery wings were a bright white, with blue bones showing through the thin skin, and a thick black trim at the bottom of the wings. My cheeks and lower jaw were the same cream white. While the rest of my face was orange. Well, except for the large number of black freckles around my green, anime style, eyes. With just a tinge of red to the irises. Looking like a mango. My Avatar, itself, had a "Shifter" Racial Template. Meaning I could change my Avatar to a couple different shapes. Such as a bipedal Anthro Form, as well as a humanoid form, in addition to my feral (more animal like) form. My humanoid form was more based on a "Animalistic" body. Meaning I might be clearly human, but had the occasional animal feature. Such as fox ears, a fluffy fox tail, hooved legs, and small bat wings. Ever since the Earth was converted into a space station, the machines had been growing their own type of Empire. But they were machines. However Intelligent they were, they weren't very creative. They needed organic scientist, and inventors, to think things up for them. So that those machines could test and improve, to Optimize, in the real world. To do that, the AIs created a place for scholars to gather, and expand their knowledge. They created- "SCHOOL!!!" Kole wailed. Musky-Pup smiled, "I did love college. Even miss it sometimes." I had mixed feelings. Kirito nodded, "You three are being reassigned as 'Hall Monitors'." Kirito had such authority over us. He was the Sheriff in this Sector of "Space". That is, of the game's map. Where as, we three boys, were beat cops. We worked for him. "You'll still be required to attend classes," Kirito explained. "but in between, you'll keep the student population from killing each other. You'll mostly be dealing with age players. So good luck keeping them under control." Most age players, due to using child Avatars, and everyone treating them like children, had mentally regressed... in some cases, permanently. Since no one could actually have kids, in this virtual world, ageplayers were the next best thing. Frequently being taken in by couples who longed for a child to pamper. I... had gone through a few caretakers myself, but nothing had stuck so far. I was a Deputy, and most caregivers had strong feelings about that. Since I didn't want to give up my job, and they couldn't handle their "kid" in such a dangerous role... Yeah, administrators were one of the few positions in the Oasis, that ran the risk of actually dying, due to rogue hackers... some of the better ones, had learned how to kill people, in the real world. By cutting off life support, causing a power outage, or such. With this dangerous field... it was hard finding an "adult" that could deal with that. "You'll find someone," I heard my original assure me. Even though he was trapped in his Hub World, I could hear him as clear as day. It wasn't so bad for the original. As they could play in whatever media franchises they wanted. Even had their Hub village, filled with AI Townsfolk, to keep them company. Where they acted as mayor, in an Animal Crossing like game, with elements of SIMs and Minecraft. I will freely admit, I was a bit jealous of him for that. As he was surrounded by people that were programmed to love him unconditionally. I just rolled my eyes, "You're the last person I want to hear from. At least you have your Cyber Family." Which were the Townsfolk he directly "courted" to be his parents and Siblings. "Pay attention kid," ordered O.G. Sunny D, from his place in our Hub World. That's another thing. The Original Smart Mouth was kinda... crazy. That's why he was one of the few people fitted with an Implant, outside the Programmers Council. He was actually one of the first, way back when the technology was new, and about a decade before the first Oasis build was even a thing. His implant was originally designed to treat Schizophrenia, but somehow, when combined with later Oasis builds... Well the Dreamscape helmets had streamed information directly into the brain, and that had an unexpected reaction in the implant. It triggered a new type of Multiple Personality Disorder, which wasn't the same thing as Schizophrenia. It wasn't quite the same thing as either disorder. As his counterparts were technically artificial Intelligence, that just happened to manifest through his own subconscious. I might be based on the original, but there were a bunch of copies of each of these personalities. All of us existing in MMOs or the Main Oasis Server... which was technically an MMO, itself, I suppose. Musky-Pup (the Husky Taur), and Kole (The Kobold), were actually copies like me. We even shared the same hive mind. The fact we were a civilian, and had a hive mind, was why Kirito recruited us. Well I suppose we were all me, but it was hard not to think of us as separate people, that just happened to share a brain. Well I was sitting in my Deputy briefing. I was watching other copies play in MMOs. Equestria Online, and Re-Bottled Sodaroo, looked like a lot of fun... but I had to settle to just watching, and thinking at those copies. I was talking eagerly with my new counterpart in "Star Trek Universe Online". Which was basically Star Trek, but using aliens, worlds, and some technologies from various other franchises as well. Since Lunar Vulponies weren't one of the Available races, he was playing a traditional bat pony. Due to the DLC our original bought, to unlock an Equestria Campaign in the game. It was based off the FiM fiction "Watching the Watchers" by "Ryvaken"... where Starfleet is discovered observing Equus, and Ponies start reverse engineering Federation Tech. The campaign takes place after the team has been discovered, and first contact is officially made. Bat Pony me was eagerly narrating everything going on, and I couldn't blame him. Hell I was excited for him. Our Hive Mind had just bought the game, and he just came online. "Did you Hear me!!!" snapped O.G. Sunny D, our resident Sodaroo, in the Hive Mind... and a reflection of our more irritable side, that I tried to bury in myself, but that he fully embraced. "Kirito is giving you orders!!!" D barked. "I know, I can talk to you, and listen to him, at the same time," I reminded. It was a feature of the implant. "He means it's rude," informed O.G. Metagamer. Our Genderfluid Asari side. I say genderfluid, because she had a male Krogan transformation. We called her Oasis Counterpart "The Were-Krogan". Like how I was "S'mouth", which was short for "Smart Mouth". While the Smart in "Equestria Online" was "Mouthy". Then the me in "Re-Bottled Sodaroo" was called "Smart Alec". Where as the me in "Star Trek Universe Online" was named "Smart'tholomew Mouthitcus". The Sunny D's had "Sunny Dilbert" in the "Re-Bottled Sodaroo", with me. Then Sunny De'roo out here in the main Oasis server with us. And another "Sunny Dext'aroo" in Star Trek Universe Online... they liked giving themselves "D" names. That way the "D", in "Sunny D" would be an abbreviation of their favored drink... Which was like, major Nerd Cred. They all preferred to use a kangaroo Avatar, colored like the soft drink "Sunny D". Which was... well what made Sodaroos "Sodaroos". Unlike most Roos though, he had giant webbed claws (bigger then his head), a platypus tail, and webbed feet... as well as fangs and sharp teeth. All the O.G. counterparts, had given all us copies our own nicknames. Where we just added "O.G." to their username. "You're still rambling," O.G. Sunny D snarled. "Pay attention or I'm sending Sunny De'roo in there to give you a hiding!!!" I flinched. While the boys beside me, in the Main Oasis Server, gave me sympathetic looks. "I'm already on my way," That's when I started to panic, "I'm SORRY!!! I'll be good!!!" I sat up straight, and did my best to pay attention... unfortunately it was too little too late. I could still see through De'roo's eyes. He was walking through the halls of the Anthro Police Department... right towards the conference room I was in. He was dangerously close to- "We should not have to tell you the same thing over and over again," Was De'roo's response. Kirito took notice of how much I was shaking. Asking, "Something wrong?" just in time for De'roo to jerk the door open. Sunny De'roo quickly explained, "The Boys are spending too much time day dreaming, So I need to give them a quick reminder of why they need to give you their undivided attention." Kole's and Musky-Pup's eyes widened, not realizing they would get a turn to. "We were paying attention!!!" Musky-Pup begged. "Yeah, it was just S'mouth zoning out!" Kole insisted. Throwing me under the bus. De'roo wagged one of the massive fingers, of his massive claw... which all three of us would soon be feeling. "Don't lie to me! I saw you two surfing the hive mind." All three of us gulped. Kirito sighed, putting his pointer stick down, and touched his left peck. His profile immediately popped up. "Let me help you out," he said, as he pulled out a paddle from the floating screen. All three of us boy's began to tear up. • An evil plot was quickly devised, for our little rumps. Both men took a seat, and beckoned us boys forward. We would each get a taste of De'roo's paw, followed by Kirito's paddle. That might seem harsh, for the crime of day dreaming, but given we weren't biological children. Well it was pretty standard. There were lots of downsides to using child Avatars. Although the virtual government made sure there were even more perks, that way people would continue using them. Like the School system itself, as only those with child Avatars could use it. "You're still daydreaming," De'roo growled. I glared right back, "I'm Autistic!!! My head rambles!!! YOU KNOW THAT!!!" "The least you could do is not broadcast your every thought to the Hive Mind," Sunny De'roo rubbed his head. "You Smart Mouth's are such attention whoring brats." All 5 of us screamed "Oi!!!" into the hive mind. Causing everyone else to flinch. We rather liked stealing British slang... blame Harry Potter and Doctor Who. "ENOUGH!!!" De'roo snapped, with his real voice. "Here, NOW!!!" I suddenly lost all bravado, and hesitantly walked over. The moment I was in reach De'roo picked me up, and placed me over his lap. De'roo wasn't one for ceremony, as he immediately started swatting my rump. Careful to make sure he was only using non-lethal damage. I wrapped my arms around his thick leg, and hugged it as tightly as possible. Determined to take the spanking like a big boy. His massive claw was about the size of me. Alhough, due to the angle, it only hit my backside and upper thighs. I jerked forward with every swat. My poor little bottom being literally designed for an adult's hand. I wanted to be a brave, big, boy. But truth be told... I was crying before the first swat even landed. I was an old man when I was originally installed. Although, how old I can't remember. What I was, in the real world, hardly mattered anymore. What I chose to be, in this world, was all that mattered... and what I chose was a tiny boy, over his Elder's knee, getting my bare bottom swatted. I had chosen the warm backside, and the surprisingly gentle hug afterwards. Before being stood in the corner... while I waited for my turn with the paddle. Ch2 - Meeting Up at the Leaky CauldronWizarding Furs wasn't a perfect re-creation of the Harry Potter magical world. The map only had a few dozen small villages, and no big cities. The Programmers just cut out all the muggle areas, and scattered the magical ones over the map's boarders. With the in-between areas being magical forests, deserts, and ruins. There were even a few other wizarding schools, and even villages from other countries, but this would be the first time they would actually teach anything relevant. Until now, like all schools were, they only had classes to teach spells, practice with perks and combat, and raise skills in a safe, fast, environment. Although some schools, like Hogwarts, offered missions and quest areas. They were just another part of the game. A minor benefit for player's with Child Avatars. Now schools were being converted into a place to actually better the real world. A place for inventors, scholars, scientist, and even artistic creators to gather. It should get a lot more people using child Avatars. As well as get the AIs get out of the rut, they fell in about a decade ago. When The Space station was first constructed. The AIs had gone nuts. They had more leeway to explore the Sciences, and expand their technology. However, everything they did, was just perfecting existing tech and theories. Optimizing things humans had already done. AIs were great at getting the maximum potential out of something... but after they expanded the limits of human knowledge... they really had nothing to do. They didn't have a human's creative spirit. So couldn't hope to start on making science fiction a reality. Everything they had, even the station itself, was based on already existing human designs. Which they perfected for maximum efficiency. They hadn't even come up with the idea for the schools to be repurposed, themselves. That was the Council of Programmers. Who thought it up, after the machines informed they wished to continue expanding... but had no way to go about that. The Programmers came up with the idea of making the schools an actual place for scholars to gather. Who would give the AIs new ideas, new inventions. Which they could build, and perfect, in the real world. I got to admit, I was kinda eager to see what people would come up with, now that they were being encouraged to contribute to society again. It would still be a few months. As the School reform was still on going. Although it was hoped everything would be ready after summer break. There were a lot of advertisements going around. So it wasn't possible for anyone to not know of the school reform. Sadly, you could only go to school in maps you were a citizen of. So I had to come here now, to the map I had been assigned, and work on becoming a citizen. That only required spending a month on the map, then buying a house or condo. Until then I'd have to stay in an apartment. This map... wasn't all that big, to be honest. As The Harry Potter corner of the Furry Fandom wasn't that huge a community. It was just big enough for the Sub-genre to get it's own territory... but not big enough to really be true to the lore. There was a whole Harry Potter focused planet out in the "Fantasy Star System". Where magic was forbidden in certain areas, and had to hide from Muggles.... the Programmers thought the furries were mostly interested in the magical locations. So didn't go all out with the "Hiding from muggles" niche of the fandom. Which is why... I don't really come here that often. If I wanted to play Harry Potter, I went to the main "Wizarding World". In the Spanking Community that thrived there. Harry Potter coincided with such a large number of Spankos, that corner of the fandom got their own re-creation of Europe. With plenty of Magical AND Muggle areas. The "Wizarding Furs" map just focused on magical. So like, why would Voldemort even WANT to conquer the country. I didn't get the point. But this was where my team was assigned. We were currently sitting in the Market District's spawning station. That's the "Leaky Cauldron" for those not in the know. A really dingy pub, that acted as the entrance to the map. There was some kind of field, protecting the area, so space ships could only land in around the pub. Most vehicles didn't even work on this map, unless they were classified as "Magic". Thankfully most other "Future tech" did. So long as you purchased an upgrade, to have it run on magic. It was a fairly cheap enchantment to add. "I can't believe we got assigned to HOGWARTS!!!" Musky-pup cheered. Sitting across from me... if it could be called "Sitting". The Virtual Intelligence puppet, or V.I. , that ran the pub had given us a booth, and The Taur's lower half was laying on the bench, with me and Kole seated across from him. He had to turn his body at a weird angle, to look at us. Though thankfully a Taur's spine was extremely flexible. So he wasn't even uncomfortable. Kole shrugged, "I guess, I prefer the Sci-Fi crossover corner of the fandom. It's pretty cool, flying in starships with Harry Potter." "No, you're gonna love this, trust me," Musky-pup wiggled about in his seat. "The Lore is AMAZING!!!" I blinked, "Isn't it just Harry Potter?" "Naw," The Husky-taur waved off. "Basically, The wizards and muggles ended up killing each other, and magical creatures inherited the Earth!!! A lot of the ruins, and even the dungeons, are based on old European cities, that were abandoned for thousands of years." Kole and I shared a look. Before Kole was elected to ask, "How'd they end up killing each other?" "A Spell, fuelled by the Sorcerer's Stone," The husky bounced. "It was supposed to kill muggles, but since all wizards have some muggle blood, it killed them all. The surge of magic even destroyed all muggle technology. Which caused lots of fires, and the muggle world burned to the ground. "But There are still Goblins, house Elves, dementors. All kinds of magical beings and creatures. They raided the wizarding areas, moved into them since they had charms protecting them from the Fires. Now Magical creatures of all kinds live together in peace..." He trailed off, then got a low, conspiring, voice. "but there are darker factions that want specific races to lord over others. New Dark Lords, seeking to rule what's left of the magical world." "Hm," Was my initial comment. "At least they did something with the small map." A lot of furry maps had a "After humans" lore to them. Guess it makes sense, so would Wizarding Furs. Musky-Pup pouted, "The map isn't THAT small. It's about 50,000 square miles. There are smaller ones." Kole shrugged, "I hear the map uses a lot of races from dungeons and dragons, as NPCs and VIs." Musky-pup shrugged, "They got a few villages dedicated to specific races. From all kinda franchises." Then smiled at me, "They even got a brony village." My ears perked, unwillingly. Bronies might have their own planet, separate from Furry World, but sometimes furries included My Little Pony areas, on their maps. There were plenty of players who enjoyed both fandoms, after all. "School doesn't start for three months," I smiled, "Maybe you can show us around?" The Husky grinned, "Sure! I don't mind... even though you always tuned out my corner of the Hive Mind, whenever I came here. Looks like it's Karma, you guys are now dependent on my expertise!" he teased. Kole and I looked at each other, before rolling our eyes. "You know," Musky-Pup's grin grew wider. "There is a VGP of how this world came to be. One of the Programmers made it to explain the Lore. You could ask your O.Gs. to play it for you?" I scrunched up my nose, already knowing I wouldn't want to go through a virtual game program, where everyone dies. Nor would any version of me. We didn't like when that happened in shows. Why would my O.G. want to physically go into such a story and play through it? Kole shrugged, "OR, you could ask your O.G. to play it again." Musky-pup pouted, "I guess." He felt an affirmative from the Hive Mind. As O.G. Taur-Nation, Musky-pup's original, was willing to play it again. Watching what the other's did was our TV. • Not long after he agreed, the door to the pub opened, and Batty walked in. She was my best friend. An Anthro bat, with fluffy brown hair in a pony tail (the kind on her head). Her actual tail was a bunny like fluff ball. Instead of traditional bat wings, attached to her arms, she had beautiful green and black butterfly wings, on her back. She was dressed in a tie dye tank top, and a black Japanese kimono cardigan with a rose pattern. The Kimono barely went passed her thighs, though hung loosely over herself, with baggy sleeves... She also had on a poofy, multi colored, diaper. With butterflies and flowers printed all over it. She even had a flower crown of dandelions. She was very small, about as tall as me or Kole... which, considering we were young children of already "Small" species... yeah she was way tiny for a typical "Anthro-Furry" Avatar template... about the size of a toddler, which is what her Avatar's age was set at. I was almost surprised to see she had actually come... given I had forgotten an important tidbit of history, in relation to the Harry Potter franchise. The original creator was... a major transphobe. And that was very personal to batty. I hadn't even thought about that, when I asked. And not just cause I forgot Batty wasn't born a girl... which was kinda hard to remember, in the Oasis. As it frankly stopped mattering a long time ago. Lots of people at least experimented with switching genders, at least once. But also, I don't really pay much attention to creators or entertainers. I was always of the opinion they are all terrible people. So it's best to ignore their personal lives. To not let that taint the beauty of the media they produce... but I get there were some things, so personal to an individual, they can't ignore the creator's intent. Harry Potter... was my childhood. I was alive when the books first came out. Before all the spin-offs, of different corners of the magical world. Many of the, far too few, happy memories I have from that time... they involved things my Step mom got me into: Doctor Who, the frequent trips to Disney World... and the Harry Potter books. Oh I hated the movies. At least as a kid, but I eventually became more neutral to them as an adult, and even found a few things I liked about them. Although I still felt they dumbed down the books too much. With the books being my favorite series of all time... and I wanted to share that with my best friend. Although she was understandably reluctant to do anything involving Harry Potter... she was going to Furry Hogwarts, for no other reason then I asked. Things like this were why she was my best friend. We both were willing to do little sacrifices for each other. Even when we thought the other was being a tad inconsiderate to ask. I probably shouldn't have, and wouldn't have if I remembered what a bitch Rowling was to trans people... But that honestly slipped my mind. And I felt all the more grateful, to have Batty as a friend, when she agreed to come with me, without a second thought. "Hi Guys," Batty smiled, deciding to sit on Musky-pup's back. The Husky-Taur just rolled his eyes. "Musky-pup was just telling us about a cool village we could try," I smiled. Kole groaned, not realizing that's where we would actually live. He didn't much care for ponies. "Wait," Batty held up her tiny clawed hand. "Let me guess." She got a face of mock concentration. "Does it involve bronies?" I blushed, while my counterparts giggled at me. "Come on Batty!!!" I whined, "It'll be AWESOME!!!" "You have enough pony properties," Kole insisted. "Actually I don't mind living in a pony village," Batty shrugged, while Kole groaned. "Don't worry," Musky-pup grinned. "We don't have to live in any village." We all looked at him. The Taur puffed up his chest. "I got an Apartment Trunk." Well Kole and I were looking eager. Batty looked confused. I explained, "It's basically a travel trunk, that can hold a whole mansion inside. It's like a portable pocket dimension. We could explore the whole map, going on all sorts of adventures, but whenever we want to rest we just pull out the trunk and spend the night in luxury. Even if we're in enemy territory." "I got all the bells and Whistles," The Husky bounced in his seat, shaking Batty a good bit. Who tried desperately to cling to the excitable puppy. "Like a 'notice-me-not' charm, AND a temporary sticking charm. So no one can make off with the trunk while we're inside. There are 10 living chambers, each with there own living room and 4 bedrooms, and you can decorate them how you like. I can key you guys into the Wards, and set it up so you can apparate inside, even when the trunk is in my profile!" Batty smirked, "Sounds like you want to register the trunk as a Clan house." Musky-pup blushed, "Well..." he trailed off. I rolled my eyes, "You can only have one clan, and I'm already part of 'Spike's Hoard' with my brony friends." Batty shrugged, "And I clanned up with my gamer babyfur friends." Musky-pup pouted. I knew he was in between clans at the moment. As his old one had disbanded due to furry drama. There was a reason the "Drama Llama" had been chosen as the Ruler AI of this planet. They were basically the king / god of the world, with each map having it's own elected Governor, from the available players. "Besides," I blinked realizing my mind had wandered, and so had the conversation. Kole was currently talking. "We could just sleep in the Auror department. Not like we need a real apartment." Musky-pup pouted even more. Ch3 - Wands"Why does it take so long to get a Wand!!!" Batty whined, as a 12th wand was shoved into her claw, and then just as quickly taken away. The wand crafter was a white Wolf Anthro... that looked a lot like Ollivander from the book series... his name was even Oliver Ollivander. However, he wasn't a true AI. More like a virtual Intelligence puppet, controlled by the AI in charge of Stores on the map. Still there was an actual person, although an AI, controlling the puppet in front of us. They could hear and see everything going on in all stores, and hold actual conversations if need be... although they rarely broke character, and usually chose to ignore any oddities. While I was studying the AI, Musky-pup cheered Kole on. "It's all part of the experience!!!" Batty just pouted, as she was given another wand. I playfully nudged her, "Don't you think it's cool?" "That I have to re-learn all my spells?" Batty eyed me. All maps had their own little quirks, a slight diversion in the game mechanics. Most Wizarding World maps required all players to use wands, to cast spells. All spells, from all franchises, were reprogrammed with wand movements. Different per map. That way everyone had to go to Hogwarts, and complete the 7 years of schooling, in order to unlock a badge for wandless magic. Then they never had to pick up a wand again, much less get the movements right, but they got a bunch of bonuses if they used a wand from that Map. I laughed at how pouty she was, "Yep Yep. It's not like your spells were erased, you still have them all. you just need to learn how to use them, for this map. Besides you can always rely on your racial powers. Batty gonna light a fire under dar crinkle butts!!!" "Booooooo!!!" Kole hollered, as the Wand maker went into the back, to find more wands to try. I just stuck my tongue out, all proud of my dad joke. Decades ago, Batty had bought a few extra racial powers... involving fire and healing... I thought I was being clever, but my counterparts didn't appreciate my wit. However, most importantly, I got Batty to crack a smile. She always did appreciate my odd form of humor, having one herself. "FINALLY!!!" Batty grinned, just as a light started to glow around her, and sparks shot out her new wand. It looked like a little sword, compared to her tiny body. "13 inch, Redwood, with a core of salamander tail." Smiled The Wolf. Batty scrunched up her little bat muzzle. Looking a bit grossed out by the idea. The wand crafter smiled Mysteriously. "Rest assured, the tail was freely given. Like all my wand cores. Such cores WANT to find a worthy partner. They are more loyal, and helpful. "Salamander tails are extremely rare, as few lizards are willing to give up their tail. Even if it does grow back more quickly then the non magic kind. "This core is more inclined to fire, and explosive, magics. It holds great destructive power. But also has great power over light and beauty." "Where as the redwood chooses wielders with a particular talent for turning catastrophe into advantage. I expect great things from you, Lady Peppermint." Batty gulped again, feeling a tad intimidated by her wand. I stepped forward, and decided to skip what Batty went through. "I'm hoping to get a 7 inch, Voldemort mold, with Thestral hair." Both Kole, and Myself, needed new wands to. We might play in other types of Harry Potter maps, But each wand was linked to its respective territory. We would have to learn the wand movements, of this particular map, with it's own particular wand. It was the only way to take classes, to eventually unlock wandless magic. "Let me see, if I have that in stock," The Wolf nodded, before wandering into the back. Batty was gaping, and I couldn't help but smirk. "You mean to tell me-" She shrieked. "You can custom order wands!!! Musky-pup huffed, "Takes all the fun out of it, but sure. Why wouldn't you be able to?" Batty was gaping at us, clearly thinking we just pranked her. I assured, "It's best to go through the wand Tutorial, at least once. As it's basically the Shop AI reviewing your battle tactics, and optimizing the best combination of bonuses to aid that. It took so long to find the right one, because it's like a loading screen. As it legitimately gets the best wand for you." Batty nodded, looking at her wand. No doubt feeling how it tingled. It would do that for a bit longer, until it fully bound itself. Regardless batty said, "Still, I think I'd prefer to skip the Sorting." Scowling at the near 2 dozen discarded wand boxes, she had gone through. She was clearly thinking of the wasted half hour. We might be immortal, but there was still the mortal instinct of time being important. "Nah," I waved off, "The sorting is different. A wand is just a tool, which decides what bonuses you get, but a House helps you make like-minded friends. You don't want to gloss over that." Batty shrugged, "I'd probably just go into your house." I smiled, not being able to stop myself from day dreaming about sharing a common room with Batty. We couldn't sleep in the same dorm, cuz well, she was a girl, but I was sure we could still have a lot of fun in the same house... But still... Batty would make a lot more friends if she went the intended way. but then again, Batty was only here for me... Before I could decide anything, The wand crafter reappeared with my wand. "Be careful with this, Yew is a fearsome wood. Granting great powers over life and death. It favors the most talented healers... and the most vile Dark Lords alike. With the Thestral Hair amplifying the magical talents, quite a bit. This is not normally a good wand for first time buyers." "Don't worry," I eased the AI behind the puppet. "I have a lot of experience with wands like this." I smiled, as I gently took it, and feeling the wand bind itself to me. Musky-pup smiled, "This year is going to be great!"
Ch1 - Pay AttentionOver a Century ago, humanity went into stasis pods, to live in a virtual reality. This was done to escape our dying world. A handful of players were given implants, to allow them to co-exist with a Hive Mind. While the original doodled away in their Hub World, copies of their subconscious were sent out into various different MMO Games. I... was a copy, an echo. And somehow that didn't matter in the slightest. I thought exactly like my original. Was in frequent communication with my original, and all their counterparts and copies... it was weird. But honestly, I hardly gave it any thought. Though part of me realized I was programmed not to worry about it... But even that didn't bother me. I found it fascinating, on an academic level, but wasn't emotionally traumatized for being a copy. My mind was made up of just as much organic tissue as cybernetic parts, more actually. As I was a reflection of my brain's subconscious. I only really thought about it, as my original had training in psychology, and I loved analyzing why I behaved the way I did. I've done that since I was a real boy. I just loved figuring out my own mind. What was more concerning, was the fact I, and my child counterparts (Musky-Pup and Kole), were being sent on a special mission. Something only we were able to handle. Musky-Pup was nervously chewing a popsicle stick. Standing about half the size of Kirito, who was only using a 15 year old Avatar, himself. No, despite being a Taur, Musky-Pup wasn't very tall at all. The Husky Taur had the lower body of a dog, with four scrawny legs, a more human like Torso, with claw-like fingers, and a not quite dog like face. His muzzle was very short, with large anime style eyes, making it look much cuter then even a real Husky. He was covered in mangy fur, with countless mats and tangles, and long ginger hair on the top of his head. It stood out on his traditional Husky Coloring, with his black body, and white underbelly. Where as Kole was a Kobold, with light blue scales, an occasional orange one, and a light grey underbelly. In place of hair, he had two rows of short bone-like spikes, jetting at opposite sides of the top of his head. Where as I, myself, was a Lunar Vulpony. A bat pony, with fox features. Such as my head, front paws, and fluffy tail. They were all very fox like. Although my back legs remained hooved. My coloring was mostly a bright orange, while my underbelly was a cream white, as in extremely pale orange. Although my lower legs were black, with thick blue squigglies where it met the orange fur, above all four of my knees. While my paws had blue pads, and my hooves were the exact shade of blue. Then my tail was orange, with the underside being the same cream white as my underbelly, with a black tip, plus thick blue squiggles between all the colors of the tail. My leathery wings were a bright white, with blue bones showing through the thin skin, and a thick black trim at the bottom of the wings. My cheeks and lower jaw were the same cream white. While the rest of my face was orange. Well, except for the large number of black freckles around my green, anime style, eyes. With just a tinge of red to the irises. Looking like a mango. My Avatar, itself, had a "Shifter" Racial Template. Meaning I could change my Avatar to a couple different shapes. Such as a bipedal Anthro Form, as well as a humanoid form, in addition to my feral (more animal like) form. My humanoid form was more based on a "Animalistic" body. Meaning I might be clearly human, but had the occasional animal feature. Such as fox ears, a fluffy fox tail, hooved legs, and small bat wings. Ever since the Earth was converted into a space station, the machines had been growing their own type of Empire. But they were machines. However Intelligent they were, they weren't very creative. They needed organic scientist, and inventors, to think things up for them. So that those machines could test and improve, to Optimize, in the real world. To do that, the AIs created a place for scholars to gather, and expand their knowledge. They created- "SCHOOL!!!" Kole wailed. Musky-Pup smiled, "I did love college. Even miss it sometimes." I had mixed feelings. Kirito nodded, "You three are being reassigned as 'Hall Monitors'." Kirito had such authority over us. He was the Sheriff in this Sector of "Space". That is, of the game's map. Where as, we three boys, were beat cops. We worked for him. "You'll still be required to attend classes," Kirito explained. "but in between, you'll keep the student population from killing each other. You'll mostly be dealing with age players. So good luck keeping them under control." Most age players, due to using child Avatars, and everyone treating them like children, had mentally regressed... in some cases, permanently. Since no one could actually have kids, in this virtual world, ageplayers were the next best thing. Frequently being taken in by couples who longed for a child to pamper. I... had gone through a few caretakers myself, but nothing had stuck so far. I was a Deputy, and most caregivers had strong feelings about that. Since I didn't want to give up my job, and they couldn't handle their "kid" in such a dangerous role... Yeah, administrators were one of the few positions in the Oasis, that ran the risk of actually dying, due to rogue hackers... some of the better ones, had learned how to kill people, in the real world. By cutting off life support, causing a power outage, or such. With this dangerous field... it was hard finding an "adult" that could deal with that. "You'll find someone," I heard my original assure me. Even though he was trapped in his Hub World, I could hear him as clear as day. It wasn't so bad for the original. As they could play in whatever media franchises they wanted. Even had their Hub village, filled with AI Townsfolk, to keep them company. Where they acted as mayor, in an Animal Crossing like game, with elements of SIMs and Minecraft. I will freely admit, I was a bit jealous of him for that. As he was surrounded by people that were programmed to love him unconditionally. I just rolled my eyes, "You're the last person I want to hear from. At least you have your Cyber Family." Which were the Townsfolk he directly "courted" to be his parents and Siblings. "Pay attention kid," ordered O.G. Sunny D, from his place in our Hub World. That's another thing. The Original Smart Mouth was kinda... crazy. That's why he was one of the few people fitted with an Implant, outside the Programmers Council. He was actually one of the first, way back when the technology was new, and about a decade before the first Oasis build was even a thing. His implant was originally designed to treat Schizophrenia, but somehow, when combined with later Oasis builds... Well the Dreamscape helmets had streamed information directly into the brain, and that had an unexpected reaction in the implant. It triggered a new type of Multiple Personality Disorder, which wasn't the same thing as Schizophrenia. It wasn't quite the same thing as either disorder. As his counterparts were technically artificial Intelligence, that just happened to manifest through his own subconscious. I might be based on the original, but there were a bunch of copies of each of these personalities. All of us existing in MMOs or the Main Oasis Server... which was technically an MMO, itself, I suppose. Musky-Pup (the Husky Taur), and Kole (The Kobold), were actually copies like me. We even shared the same hive mind. The fact we were a civilian, and had a hive mind, was why Kirito recruited us. Well I suppose we were all me, but it was hard not to think of us as separate people, that just happened to share a brain. Well I was sitting in my Deputy briefing. I was watching other copies play in MMOs. Equestria Online, and Re-Bottled Sodaroo, looked like a lot of fun... but I had to settle to just watching, and thinking at those copies. I was talking eagerly with my new counterpart in "Star Trek Universe Online". Which was basically Star Trek, but using aliens, worlds, and some technologies from various other franchises as well. Since Lunar Vulponies weren't one of the Available races, he was playing a traditional bat pony. Due to the DLC our original bought, to unlock an Equestria Campaign in the game. It was based off the FiM fiction "Watching the Watchers" by "Ryvaken"... where Starfleet is discovered observing Equus, and Ponies start reverse engineering Federation Tech. The campaign takes place after the team has been discovered, and first contact is officially made. Bat Pony me was eagerly narrating everything going on, and I couldn't blame him. Hell I was excited for him. Our Hive Mind had just bought the game, and he just came online. "Did you Hear me!!!" snapped O.G. Sunny D, our resident Sodaroo, in the Hive Mind... and a reflection of our more irritable side, that I tried to bury in myself, but that he fully embraced. "Kirito is giving you orders!!!" D barked. "I know, I can talk to you, and listen to him, at the same time," I reminded. It was a feature of the implant. "He means it's rude," informed O.G. Metagamer. Our Genderfluid Asari side. I say genderfluid, because she had a male Krogan transformation. We called her Oasis Counterpart "The Were-Krogan". Like how I was "S'mouth", which was short for "Smart Mouth". While the Smart in "Equestria Online" was "Mouthy". Then the me in "Re-Bottled Sodaroo" was called "Smart Alec". Where as the me in "Star Trek Universe Online" was named "Smart'tholomew Mouthitcus". The Sunny D's had "Sunny Dilbert" in the "Re-Bottled Sodaroo", with me. Then Sunny De'roo out here in the main Oasis server with us. And another "Sunny Dext'aroo" in Star Trek Universe Online... they liked giving themselves "D" names. That way the "D", in "Sunny D" would be an abbreviation of their favored drink... Which was like, major Nerd Cred. They all preferred to use a kangaroo Avatar, colored like the soft drink "Sunny D". Which was... well what made Sodaroos "Sodaroos". Unlike most Roos though, he had giant webbed claws (bigger then his head), a platypus tail, and webbed feet... as well as fangs and sharp teeth. All the O.G. counterparts, had given all us copies our own nicknames. Where we just added "O.G." to their username. "You're still rambling," O.G. Sunny D snarled. "Pay attention or I'm sending Sunny De'roo in there to give you a hiding!!!" I flinched. While the boys beside me, in the Main Oasis Server, gave me sympathetic looks. "I'm already on my way," That's when I started to panic, "I'm SORRY!!! I'll be good!!!" I sat up straight, and did my best to pay attention... unfortunately it was too little too late. I could still see through De'roo's eyes. He was walking through the halls of the Anthro Police Department... right towards the conference room I was in. He was dangerously close to- "We should not have to tell you the same thing over and over again," Was De'roo's response. Kirito took notice of how much I was shaking. Asking, "Something wrong?" just in time for De'roo to jerk the door open. Sunny De'roo quickly explained, "The Boys are spending too much time day dreaming, So I need to give them a quick reminder of why they need to give you their undivided attention." Kole's and Musky-Pup's eyes widened, not realizing they would get a turn to. "We were paying attention!!!" Musky-Pup begged. "Yeah, it was just S'mouth zoning out!" Kole insisted. Throwing me under the bus. De'roo wagged one of the massive fingers, of his massive claw... which all three of us would soon be feeling. "Don't lie to me! I saw you two surfing the hive mind." All three of us gulped. Kirito sighed, putting his pointer stick down, and touched his left peck. His profile immediately popped up. "Let me help you out," he said, as he pulled out a paddle from the floating screen. All three of us boy's began to tear up. • An evil plot was quickly devised, for our little rumps. Both men took a seat, and beckoned us boys forward. We would each get a taste of De'roo's paw, followed by Kirito's paddle. That might seem harsh, for the crime of day dreaming, but given we weren't biological children. Well it was pretty standard. There were lots of downsides to using child Avatars. Although the virtual government made sure there were even more perks, that way people would continue using them. Like the School system itself, as only those with child Avatars could use it. "You're still daydreaming," De'roo growled. I glared right back, "I'm Autistic!!! My head rambles!!! YOU KNOW THAT!!!" "The least you could do is not broadcast your every thought to the Hive Mind," Sunny De'roo rubbed his head. "You Smart Mouth's are such attention whoring brats." All 5 of us screamed "Oi!!!" into the hive mind. Causing everyone else to flinch. We rather liked stealing British slang... blame Harry Potter and Doctor Who. "ENOUGH!!!" De'roo snapped, with his real voice. "Here, NOW!!!" I suddenly lost all bravado, and hesitantly walked over. The moment I was in reach De'roo picked me up, and placed me over his lap. De'roo wasn't one for ceremony, as he immediately started swatting my rump. Careful to make sure he was only using non-lethal damage. I wrapped my arms around his thick leg, and hugged it as tightly as possible. Determined to take the spanking like a big boy. His massive claw was about the size of me. Alhough, due to the angle, it only hit my backside and upper thighs. I jerked forward with every swat. My poor little bottom being literally designed for an adult's hand. I wanted to be a brave, big, boy. But truth be told... I was crying before the first swat even landed. I was an old man when I was originally installed. Although, how old I can't remember. What I was, in the real world, hardly mattered anymore. What I chose to be, in this world, was all that mattered... and what I chose was a tiny boy, over his Elder's knee, getting my bare bottom swatted. I had chosen the warm backside, and the surprisingly gentle hug afterwards. Before being stood in the corner... while I waited for my turn with the paddle.
Ch2 - Meeting Up at the Leaky CauldronWizarding Furs wasn't a perfect re-creation of the Harry Potter magical world. The map only had a few dozen small villages, and no big cities. The Programmers just cut out all the muggle areas, and scattered the magical ones over the map's boarders. With the in-between areas being magical forests, deserts, and ruins. There were even a few other wizarding schools, and even villages from other countries, but this would be the first time they would actually teach anything relevant. Until now, like all schools were, they only had classes to teach spells, practice with perks and combat, and raise skills in a safe, fast, environment. Although some schools, like Hogwarts, offered missions and quest areas. They were just another part of the game. A minor benefit for player's with Child Avatars. Now schools were being converted into a place to actually better the real world. A place for inventors, scholars, scientist, and even artistic creators to gather. It should get a lot more people using child Avatars. As well as get the AIs get out of the rut, they fell in about a decade ago. When The Space station was first constructed. The AIs had gone nuts. They had more leeway to explore the Sciences, and expand their technology. However, everything they did, was just perfecting existing tech and theories. Optimizing things humans had already done. AIs were great at getting the maximum potential out of something... but after they expanded the limits of human knowledge... they really had nothing to do. They didn't have a human's creative spirit. So couldn't hope to start on making science fiction a reality. Everything they had, even the station itself, was based on already existing human designs. Which they perfected for maximum efficiency. They hadn't even come up with the idea for the schools to be repurposed, themselves. That was the Council of Programmers. Who thought it up, after the machines informed they wished to continue expanding... but had no way to go about that. The Programmers came up with the idea of making the schools an actual place for scholars to gather. Who would give the AIs new ideas, new inventions. Which they could build, and perfect, in the real world. I got to admit, I was kinda eager to see what people would come up with, now that they were being encouraged to contribute to society again. It would still be a few months. As the School reform was still on going. Although it was hoped everything would be ready after summer break. There were a lot of advertisements going around. So it wasn't possible for anyone to not know of the school reform. Sadly, you could only go to school in maps you were a citizen of. So I had to come here now, to the map I had been assigned, and work on becoming a citizen. That only required spending a month on the map, then buying a house or condo. Until then I'd have to stay in an apartment. This map... wasn't all that big, to be honest. As The Harry Potter corner of the Furry Fandom wasn't that huge a community. It was just big enough for the Sub-genre to get it's own territory... but not big enough to really be true to the lore. There was a whole Harry Potter focused planet out in the "Fantasy Star System". Where magic was forbidden in certain areas, and had to hide from Muggles.... the Programmers thought the furries were mostly interested in the magical locations. So didn't go all out with the "Hiding from muggles" niche of the fandom. Which is why... I don't really come here that often. If I wanted to play Harry Potter, I went to the main "Wizarding World". In the Spanking Community that thrived there. Harry Potter coincided with such a large number of Spankos, that corner of the fandom got their own re-creation of Europe. With plenty of Magical AND Muggle areas. The "Wizarding Furs" map just focused on magical. So like, why would Voldemort even WANT to conquer the country. I didn't get the point. But this was where my team was assigned. We were currently sitting in the Market District's spawning station. That's the "Leaky Cauldron" for those not in the know. A really dingy pub, that acted as the entrance to the map. There was some kind of field, protecting the area, so space ships could only land in around the pub. Most vehicles didn't even work on this map, unless they were classified as "Magic". Thankfully most other "Future tech" did. So long as you purchased an upgrade, to have it run on magic. It was a fairly cheap enchantment to add. "I can't believe we got assigned to HOGWARTS!!!" Musky-pup cheered. Sitting across from me... if it could be called "Sitting". The Virtual Intelligence puppet, or V.I. , that ran the pub had given us a booth, and The Taur's lower half was laying on the bench, with me and Kole seated across from him. He had to turn his body at a weird angle, to look at us. Though thankfully a Taur's spine was extremely flexible. So he wasn't even uncomfortable. Kole shrugged, "I guess, I prefer the Sci-Fi crossover corner of the fandom. It's pretty cool, flying in starships with Harry Potter." "No, you're gonna love this, trust me," Musky-pup wiggled about in his seat. "The Lore is AMAZING!!!" I blinked, "Isn't it just Harry Potter?" "Naw," The Husky-taur waved off. "Basically, The wizards and muggles ended up killing each other, and magical creatures inherited the Earth!!! A lot of the ruins, and even the dungeons, are based on old European cities, that were abandoned for thousands of years." Kole and I shared a look. Before Kole was elected to ask, "How'd they end up killing each other?" "A Spell, fuelled by the Sorcerer's Stone," The husky bounced. "It was supposed to kill muggles, but since all wizards have some muggle blood, it killed them all. The surge of magic even destroyed all muggle technology. Which caused lots of fires, and the muggle world burned to the ground. "But There are still Goblins, house Elves, dementors. All kinds of magical beings and creatures. They raided the wizarding areas, moved into them since they had charms protecting them from the Fires. Now Magical creatures of all kinds live together in peace..." He trailed off, then got a low, conspiring, voice. "but there are darker factions that want specific races to lord over others. New Dark Lords, seeking to rule what's left of the magical world." "Hm," Was my initial comment. "At least they did something with the small map." A lot of furry maps had a "After humans" lore to them. Guess it makes sense, so would Wizarding Furs. Musky-Pup pouted, "The map isn't THAT small. It's about 50,000 square miles. There are smaller ones." Kole shrugged, "I hear the map uses a lot of races from dungeons and dragons, as NPCs and VIs." Musky-pup shrugged, "They got a few villages dedicated to specific races. From all kinda franchises." Then smiled at me, "They even got a brony village." My ears perked, unwillingly. Bronies might have their own planet, separate from Furry World, but sometimes furries included My Little Pony areas, on their maps. There were plenty of players who enjoyed both fandoms, after all. "School doesn't start for three months," I smiled, "Maybe you can show us around?" The Husky grinned, "Sure! I don't mind... even though you always tuned out my corner of the Hive Mind, whenever I came here. Looks like it's Karma, you guys are now dependent on my expertise!" he teased. Kole and I looked at each other, before rolling our eyes. "You know," Musky-Pup's grin grew wider. "There is a VGP of how this world came to be. One of the Programmers made it to explain the Lore. You could ask your O.Gs. to play it for you?" I scrunched up my nose, already knowing I wouldn't want to go through a virtual game program, where everyone dies. Nor would any version of me. We didn't like when that happened in shows. Why would my O.G. want to physically go into such a story and play through it? Kole shrugged, "OR, you could ask your O.G. to play it again." Musky-pup pouted, "I guess." He felt an affirmative from the Hive Mind. As O.G. Taur-Nation, Musky-pup's original, was willing to play it again. Watching what the other's did was our TV. • Not long after he agreed, the door to the pub opened, and Batty walked in. She was my best friend. An Anthro bat, with fluffy brown hair in a pony tail (the kind on her head). Her actual tail was a bunny like fluff ball. Instead of traditional bat wings, attached to her arms, she had beautiful green and black butterfly wings, on her back. She was dressed in a tie dye tank top, and a black Japanese kimono cardigan with a rose pattern. The Kimono barely went passed her thighs, though hung loosely over herself, with baggy sleeves... She also had on a poofy, multi colored, diaper. With butterflies and flowers printed all over it. She even had a flower crown of dandelions. She was very small, about as tall as me or Kole... which, considering we were young children of already "Small" species... yeah she was way tiny for a typical "Anthro-Furry" Avatar template... about the size of a toddler, which is what her Avatar's age was set at. I was almost surprised to see she had actually come... given I had forgotten an important tidbit of history, in relation to the Harry Potter franchise. The original creator was... a major transphobe. And that was very personal to batty. I hadn't even thought about that, when I asked. And not just cause I forgot Batty wasn't born a girl... which was kinda hard to remember, in the Oasis. As it frankly stopped mattering a long time ago. Lots of people at least experimented with switching genders, at least once. But also, I don't really pay much attention to creators or entertainers. I was always of the opinion they are all terrible people. So it's best to ignore their personal lives. To not let that taint the beauty of the media they produce... but I get there were some things, so personal to an individual, they can't ignore the creator's intent. Harry Potter... was my childhood. I was alive when the books first came out. Before all the spin-offs, of different corners of the magical world. Many of the, far too few, happy memories I have from that time... they involved things my Step mom got me into: Doctor Who, the frequent trips to Disney World... and the Harry Potter books. Oh I hated the movies. At least as a kid, but I eventually became more neutral to them as an adult, and even found a few things I liked about them. Although I still felt they dumbed down the books too much. With the books being my favorite series of all time... and I wanted to share that with my best friend. Although she was understandably reluctant to do anything involving Harry Potter... she was going to Furry Hogwarts, for no other reason then I asked. Things like this were why she was my best friend. We both were willing to do little sacrifices for each other. Even when we thought the other was being a tad inconsiderate to ask. I probably shouldn't have, and wouldn't have if I remembered what a bitch Rowling was to trans people... But that honestly slipped my mind. And I felt all the more grateful, to have Batty as a friend, when she agreed to come with me, without a second thought. "Hi Guys," Batty smiled, deciding to sit on Musky-pup's back. The Husky-Taur just rolled his eyes. "Musky-pup was just telling us about a cool village we could try," I smiled. Kole groaned, not realizing that's where we would actually live. He didn't much care for ponies. "Wait," Batty held up her tiny clawed hand. "Let me guess." She got a face of mock concentration. "Does it involve bronies?" I blushed, while my counterparts giggled at me. "Come on Batty!!!" I whined, "It'll be AWESOME!!!" "You have enough pony properties," Kole insisted. "Actually I don't mind living in a pony village," Batty shrugged, while Kole groaned. "Don't worry," Musky-pup grinned. "We don't have to live in any village." We all looked at him. The Taur puffed up his chest. "I got an Apartment Trunk." Well Kole and I were looking eager. Batty looked confused. I explained, "It's basically a travel trunk, that can hold a whole mansion inside. It's like a portable pocket dimension. We could explore the whole map, going on all sorts of adventures, but whenever we want to rest we just pull out the trunk and spend the night in luxury. Even if we're in enemy territory." "I got all the bells and Whistles," The Husky bounced in his seat, shaking Batty a good bit. Who tried desperately to cling to the excitable puppy. "Like a 'notice-me-not' charm, AND a temporary sticking charm. So no one can make off with the trunk while we're inside. There are 10 living chambers, each with there own living room and 4 bedrooms, and you can decorate them how you like. I can key you guys into the Wards, and set it up so you can apparate inside, even when the trunk is in my profile!" Batty smirked, "Sounds like you want to register the trunk as a Clan house." Musky-pup blushed, "Well..." he trailed off. I rolled my eyes, "You can only have one clan, and I'm already part of 'Spike's Hoard' with my brony friends." Batty shrugged, "And I clanned up with my gamer babyfur friends." Musky-pup pouted. I knew he was in between clans at the moment. As his old one had disbanded due to furry drama. There was a reason the "Drama Llama" had been chosen as the Ruler AI of this planet. They were basically the king / god of the world, with each map having it's own elected Governor, from the available players. "Besides," I blinked realizing my mind had wandered, and so had the conversation. Kole was currently talking. "We could just sleep in the Auror department. Not like we need a real apartment." Musky-pup pouted even more.
Ch3 - Wands"Why does it take so long to get a Wand!!!" Batty whined, as a 12th wand was shoved into her claw, and then just as quickly taken away. The wand crafter was a white Wolf Anthro... that looked a lot like Ollivander from the book series... his name was even Oliver Ollivander. However, he wasn't a true AI. More like a virtual Intelligence puppet, controlled by the AI in charge of Stores on the map. Still there was an actual person, although an AI, controlling the puppet in front of us. They could hear and see everything going on in all stores, and hold actual conversations if need be... although they rarely broke character, and usually chose to ignore any oddities. While I was studying the AI, Musky-pup cheered Kole on. "It's all part of the experience!!!" Batty just pouted, as she was given another wand. I playfully nudged her, "Don't you think it's cool?" "That I have to re-learn all my spells?" Batty eyed me. All maps had their own little quirks, a slight diversion in the game mechanics. Most Wizarding World maps required all players to use wands, to cast spells. All spells, from all franchises, were reprogrammed with wand movements. Different per map. That way everyone had to go to Hogwarts, and complete the 7 years of schooling, in order to unlock a badge for wandless magic. Then they never had to pick up a wand again, much less get the movements right, but they got a bunch of bonuses if they used a wand from that Map. I laughed at how pouty she was, "Yep Yep. It's not like your spells were erased, you still have them all. you just need to learn how to use them, for this map. Besides you can always rely on your racial powers. Batty gonna light a fire under dar crinkle butts!!!" "Booooooo!!!" Kole hollered, as the Wand maker went into the back, to find more wands to try. I just stuck my tongue out, all proud of my dad joke. Decades ago, Batty had bought a few extra racial powers... involving fire and healing... I thought I was being clever, but my counterparts didn't appreciate my wit. However, most importantly, I got Batty to crack a smile. She always did appreciate my odd form of humor, having one herself. "FINALLY!!!" Batty grinned, just as a light started to glow around her, and sparks shot out her new wand. It looked like a little sword, compared to her tiny body. "13 inch, Redwood, with a core of salamander tail." Smiled The Wolf. Batty scrunched up her little bat muzzle. Looking a bit grossed out by the idea. The wand crafter smiled Mysteriously. "Rest assured, the tail was freely given. Like all my wand cores. Such cores WANT to find a worthy partner. They are more loyal, and helpful. "Salamander tails are extremely rare, as few lizards are willing to give up their tail. Even if it does grow back more quickly then the non magic kind. "This core is more inclined to fire, and explosive, magics. It holds great destructive power. But also has great power over light and beauty." "Where as the redwood chooses wielders with a particular talent for turning catastrophe into advantage. I expect great things from you, Lady Peppermint." Batty gulped again, feeling a tad intimidated by her wand. I stepped forward, and decided to skip what Batty went through. "I'm hoping to get a 7 inch, Voldemort mold, with Thestral hair." Both Kole, and Myself, needed new wands to. We might play in other types of Harry Potter maps, But each wand was linked to its respective territory. We would have to learn the wand movements, of this particular map, with it's own particular wand. It was the only way to take classes, to eventually unlock wandless magic. "Let me see, if I have that in stock," The Wolf nodded, before wandering into the back. Batty was gaping, and I couldn't help but smirk. "You mean to tell me-" She shrieked. "You can custom order wands!!! Musky-pup huffed, "Takes all the fun out of it, but sure. Why wouldn't you be able to?" Batty was gaping at us, clearly thinking we just pranked her. I assured, "It's best to go through the wand Tutorial, at least once. As it's basically the Shop AI reviewing your battle tactics, and optimizing the best combination of bonuses to aid that. It took so long to find the right one, because it's like a loading screen. As it legitimately gets the best wand for you." Batty nodded, looking at her wand. No doubt feeling how it tingled. It would do that for a bit longer, until it fully bound itself. Regardless batty said, "Still, I think I'd prefer to skip the Sorting." Scowling at the near 2 dozen discarded wand boxes, she had gone through. She was clearly thinking of the wasted half hour. We might be immortal, but there was still the mortal instinct of time being important. "Nah," I waved off, "The sorting is different. A wand is just a tool, which decides what bonuses you get, but a House helps you make like-minded friends. You don't want to gloss over that." Batty shrugged, "I'd probably just go into your house." I smiled, not being able to stop myself from day dreaming about sharing a common room with Batty. We couldn't sleep in the same dorm, cuz well, she was a girl, but I was sure we could still have a lot of fun in the same house... But still... Batty would make a lot more friends if she went the intended way. but then again, Batty was only here for me... Before I could decide anything, The wand crafter reappeared with my wand. "Be careful with this, Yew is a fearsome wood. Granting great powers over life and death. It favors the most talented healers... and the most vile Dark Lords alike. With the Thestral Hair amplifying the magical talents, quite a bit. This is not normally a good wand for first time buyers." "Don't worry," I eased the AI behind the puppet. "I have a lot of experience with wands like this." I smiled, as I gently took it, and feeling the wand bind itself to me. Musky-pup smiled, "This year is going to be great!"
